The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) released majority of the contents, mostly addressing the claims that its leader, Mufti Noor Wali Mehsud, had been killed during Pakistan’s airstrikes on October 9. However, other factions also produced content, including Jamaatul Ahrar (JuA) and Inqilab-e-Islami Pakistan (IIP), addressing different issues. The high media activity of all Pakistani Taliban during the clashes between Afghan and Pakistani forces reveals that despite multiple efforts to degrade them, Pakistani Taliban capabilities remain largely untouched.

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Essentially, the two issues of the magazine present JeM's reaction to the Pahalgam attack and the apex of JeM’s propaganda following Indian strikes on the Jamia Masjid Subhanallah in Bahawalpur.

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The 12-minute long episode is the fourth one in the series featuring the training and different statements from members of the suicide squad, highlighting their capabilities and commitment to the group’s struggle.

However, this episode is particularly interesting because it features for a brief moment the leader of the sub-faction, Khalid Waziristani. Khalid Waziristani is a prominent leader of HGB and a veteran commander of the war in Afghanistan, enjoining close relations with the so-called Haqqani Network. In the video, he appears while talking to the militants of the al-Hamza Suicide Battalion.

Furthermore, the video also features a member of the battalion who gives a speech in the English language rather than in Pashto. The militant argues that the group is committed to fighting against the state in order to establish an “Islamic government” in Pakistan and to “defend the oppressed ones”.

The majority of the video focuses on the physical and weapons courses held in the Khalid bin Waleed Training Camp, where the al-Hamza Suicide Battalion trains. Clips show militants training with light machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades. The majority of the militants use Colt M4A1 carbines and M16A1 rifles previously used in Afghanistan by NATO, and today handled by the special forces of both HGB and the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) al-Farooq Training Camp.

For the past two years, HGB has been increasing the number of suicide attacks as well as special operations. Recently, on March 1, HGB claimed a suicide attack carried out in Eidak area of North Waziristan tribal district by Khalid aka Yousuf. Khalid was not a member of the al-Hamza Suicide Battalio; he belonged to another important unit that trains special forces and suicide members of HGB, the Aswadul Harb Suicide Commando, belonging to the Ghaziano Commando. On 26 October 2024, the Aswadul Harb Suicide Commando provided the suicide bomber for a Vehicle Born Suicide Bomb (VBSB) attack in Eidak area, carried out by Yahya.

The text is an account of the Chinese government’s repressing measures in Xinjiang (East Turkestan province) and an analysis of Chinese economic projects in Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and Europe. The core message of the text is that according to the author, East Turkestan is not an internal issue of China and the Uyghur people but rather an international issue.

Abdul Salam argues that the TIP has been fighting a defensive war against China since 1949 due to the occupation of the sovereign state of East Turkestan, which China has occupied. He claims that this has been the starting point of a global strategy devised by China, reiterating what the group has been saying for the past decades. However, beyond the content of the booklet, the language used by Abdul Salam is particularly interesting as it is devised to appeal to the international community and, specifically, the West.

The text argues that China employs a combination of economic and defensive tactics to eradicate human rights and freedoms in South Asia and Central Asia by implementing “a very dangerous agenda through charity diplomacy, military force, repression, tyranny, and murder.” Abdul Salam particularly emphasises the economic aspect of this strategy, claiming that China takes advantage of the economic weakness of some countries to take control of important locations in those countries in exchange for debts, plundering their wealth and seizing their economic centers and strategic ports under the pretext of friendship and cooperation. As examples, Abdul Salam cites the cases of the Uganda International Airport, Hambantota Port in Sri Lanka, and Gwadar Port and Balochistan province in Pakistan. He warns that China plans to do the same to other regions, such as Mongolia, Tibet, Taiwan, Manchuria, Burma, Nepal, and Bhutan. Abdul Salam argues that the Belt and Road Initiative, the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, and the China-Europe high-speed rail network serve this goal.

The TIP ideologue further claims that China not only aims at economically subjugating countries but also it is a source of global political instability. Citing a newly released map of China that has drawn new borders (an updated version of the one published in 2023), Abdul Salam maintains that China is a threat to both minorities within the countries as well as to the integrity of other countries. Abdul Salam specifically argues that the new map of China has claimed Aksai Chin, Arunachal Pradesh, Doklam, Galwan, and Tibet as its territory, and Malaysia, Brunei, Vietnam, the Philippines, and Taiwan have been portrayed as part of China.

The second half of the booklet actively calls on the international community to side with the TIP in its struggle against China. Abdul Salam claims that East Turkestan is the frontline for all countries that wish to oppose China’s global ambitions, calling on them to side with the TIP and help them in their conflict before the conflict reaches them.

Abdul Salam mentions the Belt and Road Initiative as one of the most rewarding potential targets for damaging Chinese interests. The militant claims that as East Turkestan is a focal node for the project that spreads from Xinjiang to the rest of Central Asia, any damage to the project will harm Chinese interests. Importantly, Abdul Salam indirectly refers to those countries in the West that are concerned by the expansion of the Belt and Road Initiative and other Chinese economic projects as Trojan horses for Chinese influence.

Abdul Salam concludes by stating that the TIP is extending a cooperative hand towards all those countries that are interested in tackling Chinese influence, and that “the defeat of the Chinese regime is an opportunity for all countries in the world, including America and Europe.”

The TIP directly threatens Beijing to start a new phase in its struggle against the Chinese government. The new phase of the conflict will include the death of “innocent people”, while cities and houses will be destroyed. Abdul Salam maintains that the main targets of the TIP will be Chinese forces stationed in Xinjiang, claiming that the TIP will bring the fight directly in the province until Chinese troops withdraw and East Turkestan becomes a sovereign state.

While the majority of the booklet shares content similar to those featured in several past publications, the key difference rests in the appealing language to the international community and Western audience and the timing of the publication. After the toppling of Bashar al-Assad and the end of the war in Syria, the TIP claimed that the group had achieved its two short-term objectives: the liberation of Afghanistan and the liberation of Syria. Since December 2024, the group has been spearheading a series of events in Syria aimed at raising awareness of the situation in Xinjiang. It appears that the TIP is preparing the ground for possibly opening a new front directly within Xinjiang province, although the circumstances remain still uncertain and murky.

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However, not only IS, but also other jihadist entities – militant and online ones – have resumed their anti-Western posture, linking it to the ongoing conflict in Gaza and other events, thus developing a competition among jihadists on attacks in the West.

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